1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods, network systems and centers for intermediating transactions, and more particularly to a method, a network system and a center for intermediating transactions, in which each transaction is processed in a real time.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet has become widely used and online transaction is actively conducted.
Recently, any product possible to buy and sell such as a book, a publication, a peripheral for a personal computer, a cloth, a food, a gift, a toy, a real estate or the like can be traded by online.
A consumer accesses a shopping mall site and then refers to various product information and easily makes an order.
In the online transaction, an invention described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-57214 is known in that an order is interactively received and a price is determined by associating with a delivery time.
In a product order receiving method according to this invention in that a production cost is changed based on an amount of products and a delivery time, a request concerning product order (the number of product, information specifying a product and the like) is received from a customer via online and then the delivery time and the product price in a case of accepting the request are provided to the customer in accordance with a procedure for determining the delivery time and production cost based on a current production status when a production schedule is changed.
In addition, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 5-307556, the invention discloses that sales can be conducted at a shop by referring to a product stock status by using a database integrated by a computer network that electrically processes information concerning a series of transactions from a production planning of cloths and textiles to production and sales.
However, in the shopping mall site, the customer can not compare information related to the price, the delivery time and the like among a plurality of merchandisers selling the same product since it is not possible to obtain the information at the same time.
Thus, a purchaser of the product can not decide and make an order to a proper product merchandiser by considering the price and the delivery time.
For example, the purchaser of the product may want to make an order to a product merchandiser offering a cheaper price when the delivery time is later than the purchaser expects. On the other hand, when the delivery time is critical for the purchaser, the purchaser of the product may want to make an order to a product merchandiser who is punctual in delivering on time even if the product price is much more expensive. However, the above conventional method does not allow the purchaser to flexibly select the product merchandiser based on the consideration related to the product price and the delivery time.
Moreover, after the product merchandiser receives the order from the purchaser, the product merchandiser has to make a deal with a distribution company.
Another invention described in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-57214 discloses a method for receiving such a special product order in which production cost is fluctuated by the product amount and the delivery time. This invention is not used for transactions of ordinary products. Thus, it is not possible for the purchaser to make an order properly based on the consideration of the price and the delivery time among the plurality of the product merchandisers.
Another invention described in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-307556 discloses a method for managing a sales status and a product stock status at a shop in the apparel industry. Similarly to the invention described in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-57214, it is not possible for the purchaser to make an order properly based on the consideration of the price and the delivery time among the plurality of the product merchandisers.